Heterophyidae

Millions of people worldwide are exposed to the risk of getting infected with zoonotic diseases. Among those, foodborne infections of various pathogens are a major global health concern since infected food products can be exported and can spread those pathogens around the world. Therefore, the requirement for reliable diagnostic tools both for humans and for contaminated food products is a global public health interest. The advances in molecular technologies provide an outstanding opportunity to develop very accurate diagnostic tools that will enable the identi’cation of pathogens by their DNA traces even at very low quantities at a reasonable price. We have recently published a manuscript providing a comprehensive updated description of the current status of molecular diagnostics heterophyiasis, a food-borne infection caused by small trematodes of the heterophyidae family that affects humans around the globe. While looking through the recent literature, we came to realize that since our last publication a very few additional contributions were made to the “molecular diagnostic toolbox” of heterophyidae. We therefore made the required update for this chapter hoping that the development of new diagnostic tools for these pathogens will be accelerated and expanded for the betterment of humanity.